Reveal

REM have no right, at this advanced stage in their career, to be making such spirited and beautiful music as that on Reveal. Twenty years after "Radio Free Europe", they're still jiggy as year-old pups. Reveal is the sound of a band who have moved beyond feeling the need to change or to prove themselves to each new generation, but still want to make music that expresses a passion for life. Michael Stipe's voice has never been more evocatively beautiful than it is on "I've Been High", and Peter Buck's eclectic tunesmithery has continued in the highly accessible vein it was mining on their previous album, Up. Those who yearn to hear the Stipe of old, mumbling incomprehensibly behind murky Byrds-u-like chords, will remain disappointed by his increasing emergence as an upfront vocalist whose lyrics, if never entirely self-explanatory, now make ingenious use of phrases, images and vignettes that anybody can identify with. Hovering over much of the album is the spirit of Brian Wilson, whose melodic and harmonic genius is echoed in "Beachball" and almost transcended in the astonishingly plangent "Summer Turns to High". With so much to live up to from "Losing My Religion" to "Man On the Moon", it's not far short of astonishing that REM can still come up with a song like "Imitation of Life", whose gorgeously chiming and shimmering chorus sets the heart soaring and the eyes misting over. That song alone would be worth the price of admission but, fortunately, from the first synthesiser swirls of the album's opener, "The Lifting", there's not a dud to be heard in the entire dozen cuts. --Johnny Black

Following the creative disarray of Up, caused by the surprise departure of drummer, Bill Berry, REM finally started to come to terms with their status as a three-piece. Compared to its predecessor their twelfth album is a happier, sunnier document, still entranced with electronica but not afraid to return to the gentle acoustic period of Out Of Time as well.

The band obviously realised that while Up sold in good enough quantities, they were in danger of alienating their massive fanbase. While Monster had attempted to return them to the full-on rock of their more lucrative period, this time it wasn't Peter Buck who saved the day but Michael Stipe. His vocals are clear and concise, showing no debt to the muddy, blurred outpourings that had in turns added to their early mystique and frustrated anyone trying to find deeper meaning. Put simply, Reveal is full of love songs.

The biggest hit here, Imitation Of Life, successfully recreates the rush of Losing My religion; sounding utterly joyous and in love with life. Beat A drum even sees our man Stipe singing of a sexual encounter that leaves him reeling. No wonder he sounds happier... And who could resist the Gl;en Campbell-alike baritone twang of All The Way To Reno? Even Bucks and Mills' Beach Boys obsession gets another (successful) airing on Beachball. It's all like a nice warm cup of tea poured into your ears.

Overall the expanded cast of Joey Waronker on drums, as well as the Posies' Ken Stringfellow and the Young Fresh Fellows' Scott McCaughey on keyboards never clogs up the surroundings. If the band's earliest recordings always suffered from underproduction, and albums like Up and New Adventures In Hi Fi sounded too calculated and pristine to make you care, Reveal has a warmth that comes from finally being able to use all the shiny happy toys that modern technology had to offer. we could all breath a sigh of relief... --Chris Jones

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This limited edition version features a custom sleeve that measure 8 inches square, a 40 page full colour booklet which includes photography by Michael Stipe and full album lyrics.

REM Reveal (2001 UK 12-track CD includes Imitation Of Life and All The Way To Reno picture sleeve with lyrics)